Railway-crossing track-cleaner



(No Model.)

P. C. STENDEL.

RAILWAY CROSSING TRACK CLEANER. No. 520,192 vPraizeniexd May 2.2, 1894 Q 9 wf@ W fg-5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FERDINAND C. STENDEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY-CROSSING TRACK-CLEAN ER.

SPECIFICATION :forming part of Letters Patent No. 520,192, dated May 22, 1894.

Application iiled January 6, 1894. Serial 110.495,905. (No model.)

T0 a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FERDINAND C. STEN- DEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway- Crossing Track- Cleaners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of tools employed at railway-crossings in clearing the space between the rail and pavement of accumulationsl of ice, snow and dirt with which it becomes filled or packed.

The object of my improvement is to provide such a tool of simpleand comparatively inexpensive construction, whereby it shall be adapted to perform thoroughly, by the one operation of riding it along the top of a rai1- way-crossin g rail, the two functions of loosening the matter deposited in the space alongside the rail and throwing it od to one side, thus avoiding any necessity for sweeping the matter out after it has been loosened.

In the accompanying drawings-Figure l is a broken perspective view showing my improved cleaner. Fig.2 is asimilar view showing thecleaner in Operation. Fig. 3 is abroken sectional view, the section being taken at the line 3 on Fig. 1 andviewed in the direction of the arrow.

A is the head which I form in one piece preferably entirely of steel and mainly flat. It hasa tangr extending, preferably as shown, at a slight angle from Its upper edge and adapted to be driven into one end of an adequately long straight handle B, that illustrated being of wood and having the end to which the head is applied surrounded by a reinforcing ferrule q. From the lower edge of the head A the scraper-tongue p extends, and it should be slightly curved, as shown, to present a concave forward surface-extending to its lower chamfered end. The tongue is materially narrower than and projects from near the center of the head, leaving the shoulder o at one side, and at the opposite side a wing n -which is bent to describe an irregular curve presenting a general laterally-convex forward surfacewith the lower portion (in the operative position of the head) projecting downward and slightly forward and the upper portion curving in a slightly forward direction; and the edge of the wing is curved from near the upper edge of the head to its junction with the tongue p. The wing thus affords a deliector tending to guide to one side the material loosened by the use of the device, of which the following is a description:

To clean a rail C of a railway-crossing, the operator inserts the tongue in the space between the rail and adjacent pavement or planking D, thus applying the shoulder o to the top of the rail. By then riding the head A at its shoulder along the rail, with the handle B held at asuitable inclination, the tongue scrapes and loosens the accumulations of matter.v in the space, which is crowded, by pushing the device, up-the face of the head, whence it is 4guided to one side by the detlector n.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is f l 1. A- railway-crossing track-cleaner comprising, in combination, a handle B, and a head A fastened to the handle and formed with a shoulder o at one side, a deliector nat' the opposite side having the curved outer edge and generally convex front surface, and an intermediate scraper-tongue p, concave along its front surface, substantially as described.

2. A railway-crossing ltraclccleaner comprising, in combination, a handleB, and a head A having a tang r extending at an angle from it and connecting` it with the handle, and formed with a shoulder o at one sidea delector n at the opposite sidehaving the curved outer edge and generally convex front surface, and an intermediate scraper-tongue p, concave along its front surface, substantially as described.

FERDINAND STENDEL.

In presence of- M. J. FROST, W. N. WILLIAMS. 

